As sales of beauty aids and cosmetics for men and women increase so does confusion, tinged, perhaps, with scepticism, in those of us who want to identify just what are the real beauty aids. Caught up in a crowd at a cosmetic counter, trying to compare and cost the claims of the various preparations which promise to do something for your particular beauty needs, have you never asked yourself if there is not a simpler, less expensive, more permanent and natural way of improving your looks? The answer is "yes" and all you have to do is simply transfer your attention to the food counters.

Few of us think of food in relation to beauty, except in the case of weight reducing. Yet not only do we carve our figures with our knives and forks, the food we eat also affects the health and beauty of our skin, nails, teeth, hair and eyes.

Without a doubt, an intelligent and informed approach to eating can play handsome beauty dividends. And, once you have mastered some basic nutritional facts and learned which foods are most beneficial, your beauty homework is done. It's not like the cosmetic scene, with its ever changing stream of manufacturers' jargon to keep up with.

Eating for beauty, rather than makingup to beauty, saves time too. You have to eat, anyway, and your three regular meals a day can form the basis of a thorough beauty improvement plan. Consider, too, the money you save. Superficial cosmetics are comparative luxuries, but food is a necessary part of your weekly budget. And this commonsense approach to beauty will also make you a natural beauty and cut down on the conglomeration of beauty aids on your dressing table.

It was Brillat Savarin, the eighteenthcentury French philosopher and gourmand, who said, "Animals feed, men eat, but only wise men know how to eat In other words, if we eat well, we will feel well and if we feel well, we will look well.

It is a chain reaction in which the first and most important link is the food we eat ideally in a well balanced diet. An inadequate diet can play havoc with health. Innumerable nagging complaints such as constipation, insomnia, indigestion, acne and tension, can often be traced back to poor eating habits. So, if we don't feel well, probably because of an inadequate diet, the second link is also weak and the third link appearance will reflect this in many ways.

Dark shadows under the eyes and a pallid complexion can be caused by anaemia, an iron deficiency complaint which drains vitality and vigour. Tired, cloudy looking eyes can be caused by constipation which also dulls the skin.

Clogged pores, especially on the face, are nearly always a sign of a sluggish system. Tired eyes and a drab complexion often reflect insomnia as well, while frown lines usually indicate tension.

Most dieticians are now agreed that a diet which promotes health and beauty should he low in sugar and starch and high in proteins, which build and repair the body, and vitamin rich foods which make invaluable contributions to a healthy skin, good eyesight and shiny hair.

It's very easy to juggle with proteins and vitamins and come up with a simple yet balanced beauty diet. Each day you should eat meat, fish or poultry in addition to an egg dish, a pint of milk, or its equivalent in cheese, a salad, a lightlycooked green vegetable, some fresh fruit and two slices of wholemeal or vitaminenriched bread.

Balance is the key word for any good diet. No one food is responsible for building up or maintaining a particular tissue. So fad diets, which over emphasize one food in preference to others, can deprive you of essential nutrients. The best diet for any beauty problem is one which provides meals and dishes made up from a wide variety of foods, This is rather like the formula for a superficial beauty preparation. Even a simple cold cream that you might use to cleanse your face is a combination of four partswaxes to give body to the cream; a medicinal grade of light mineral oil, which acts as a cleanser, a skin lubricant and softener, and helps to maintain the moisture balance of the skin; water, which hydrates and softens the skin; and perfume oil.

And we can draw another comparison between external skin foods and a wellbalanced diet. Just as the skin can only absorb a tiny amount of goodness from an application of cream, and the residue just comes off on a towel or a pillow, so the human body reaches a peak of health and overdoses of beneficial foods are wasted. Equally, of course, underdoses, the results of crash diets or badly balanced diets, cause that health peak to slide dramatically. This can have drastically aging effects on the face and neck and can cause permanent damage to the elasticity of the skin.

Quantity is also an important aspect of a well balanced beauty diet. Vitamin A and protein are both vital for beauty and an ideal source of these is milk. However, while adults should drink at least half a pint of milk a day, larger quantities of fresh milk are comparatively high in calories and may contribute to an increase in weight. But enriched skimmed milk is non fattening. Half a cupful of this added to soups, sauces, custard or scrambled eggs will add nutrients to your diet, but not too many calories. However, reconstituted milk should always be used immediately. Make it up only as and when you need it.

Watch the quantity of food you eat, too. Eat only enough to satisfy your hunger. Try putting your food on a small plate. It will make the portions look larger and you will eat less.

As far as the quality of the food we eat is concerned, the better the quality, the more our looks benefit. Cooking methods count, too. It is sensible to cut down on fried and twice cooked foods. They are filling, but not necessarily flattering to your figure or your complexion. And there is an art to cooking vegetables. Vitamin C, major sources of which are vegetables, is very easily destroyed. Over cooking green vegetables, keeping them warm, using too much cooking water or just keeping fruit and vegetables until they are stale can destroy their nutritive and hence their beauty value.

In addition to what to eat and how much to eat, the way we eat can have a direct effect on beauty. The chief need of strong white teeth, for example, apart from regular cleaning, is plenty of good chewing. In any case, chewing thoroughly and eating slowly are good beauty rules. Hurried meals contribute to indigestion and sleeplessness, vexations which are easily detected in the appearance. If you are tired or emotionally upset, don't try to cope with a full meal. Your system will rebel and the results will show at surface level. Just have a bowl of soup or a salad.

There are many common beauty problems which are often camouflaged with cosmetics. If you would like to achieve a lasting cure instead of temporary disguise, a few adjustments in your diet might be all that are necessary.

Skin is the body's largest single organ, and, because it covers the whole body, it. has its fair share of beauty problems Acne is probably the most obvious. The best curative rules for this are to use no fatty face creams and to eat no fatty foods. And that includes fried foods. Pork, bacon, sausages and chocolate, too, should be cut out of the diet completely. Hot water drinks, preferably with the juice of half a lemon squeezed into them, taken first thing in the morning and last thing at night, are an invaluable part of this cure. Three teaspoons each day of dried yeast, mixed into fruit Juice, soups or added to other dishes are also helpful.

A person with dry skin, on the other hand, should eat a diet which includes plenty of eggs, butter, oil and liver. Part of the prescription consists of tomatoes and lightly cooked green and yellow vegetables in particular young vegetables and avocado pears.

To improve an oily, coarse textured skin eat bran cereal, wholemeal bread and a salad every day and cut down on sugar and salt. Avoid rich foods, especially the fried variety. Stick to these rules and you will see an improvement in the texture of your natural, genetically determined skin type.

Blackheads are usually associated with an oily skin and whiteheads are a symptom of an acid skin. The dietary cure is to avoid alcohol and too many high protein foods or fried foods. Salads, lightly cooked fresh green vegetables and tomatoes are particularly good. And drinking at least six glasses of water a day is an invaluable beauty remedy. It is also wise to reduce sugar and salt intake.

Thread veins are often caused by exposing a delicate skin to extremes of temperature and the food we eat is one source of such temperature variation. If you have a tendency to thread veins, avoid very hot or very cold foods and drinks, highly seasoned dishes, alcohol and strong tea and coffee.

If you want to have shiny, thick hair, remember that vitamin A is the texture vitamin and vitamin B the colour and health one. Some trichologists believe that good supplies of iron, found in liver, other meat, green vegetables and eggs, maintain the brightness and the intensity of hair colour and that iodine, found in sea foods and many vegetables, will help to check early greying. If the thought of raw egg yolks doesn't appeal to you, try an egg flip. Beat together one egg yolk, a carton of yogurt and a cupful of tomato juice.

If you are overweight, learn the principles of sensible weight reduction before rushing into a weight reducing diet. For a real figure improvement, it is usually necessary to cut down on your food intake. One step in the right direction is to eat an extra helping of a salad or a green vegetable in place of bread and to have fresh fruit instead of pastries and puddings. Remember, too, that weather affects the appetite. It is often easier to follow a diet in summer, when appetites tend to be smaller and toasted snacks and thick soups are not the temptation that they are in winter.

Teeth are particularly vulnerable to decay. They are kept healthy with lots of cleansing foods which scour the teeth and exercise the gums. Soft, sticky and sweet foods are bad for the teeth. The greatest concentration of decay causing acids forms in the mouth within a quarter of an hour of eating sticky, sugary foods. That's why dentists recommend that we eat sweets and chocolates only at mealtimes because, whenever possible, teeth should be cleaned after meals. When this is not possible, the meal should be finished with an apple or a piece of celery or raw carrot which helps to prevent food becoming lodged between the teeth. Another alternative, especially if you are caught away from home without a toothbrush, is to play the game of bubble and blow. Fill your mouth with water and then, by blowing, force it through

Make the most of your natural beauty by eating a well balanced diet to keep you at the peak of good health. the spaces between your teeth to dislodge any trapped food particles.

Sleep, fresh air and exercise all contribute to youthful looking, bright eyes. The eye foods are found in citrus fruits, lightly cooked dark green vegetables, carrots, fish liver oils, egg yolks, liver, yellow fruits, butter and margarine. Remember that plenty of vitamin B, of which wheat germ is an excellent source, will help to keep your eyes bright and help to overcome constipation.

Anybody whose nails crack or flake or break should value vitamin B and iodine. Such foods as eggs, fish and other sea food are all excellent sources of these nutrients. Drinking gelatine, dissolved in warm water and then added to fruit juice, also seems to help fragile nails. For a permanent improvement, the gelatine cure must continue almost indefinitely, but it's worth trying.

The success of any diet depends, to a certain extent, on self discipline. A chart of what you eat and loss of weight, or any signs of improvement in your complexion, nails or hair, might help you to discipline yourself. Allow at least 28 days before expecting to see results. As homework and to keep up your interest, fill a shopping basket with foods from your kitchen cupboard. Then go through them, one by one, putting aside the items which make no direct contribution to beauty and noting the items which are worth replenishing.

A diet for beauty is so easy to follow. You can enjoy it for itself, and above all, you can enjoy the results which you can be sure will be long lasting.